ITEP Work in Action
Democrats: President Biden Delivers for Wisconsin While Trump Backs Billionaires Over Working Families
May 21, 2024
Today, President Biden’s visit to Racine, Wisconsin will underscore how his economic agenda is uplifting Wisconsin families by creating good-paying jobs, cutting costs, and building the middle class. Just last week, Trump spent his short time in Wisconsin lying about President Biden’s economic wins, because he knows that his only defense against President Biden’s successful record is to lie in a desperate attempt to hide how he failed Wisconsin families.
Wisconsin Budget Project: Tax Shift Would Hike Taxes for People with Low Incomes and Give a Big Tax Cut to the Top 1%
February 7, 2022
Last month, an influential group of lobbyists released a proposal to raise Wisconsin’s sales tax to 8%, making it the highest state sales tax in the country, and eliminate the state individual income tax, Wisconsin’s biggest source of revenue. The plan would result in the largest tax cuts going to white households, with households of color […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Wisconsin’s Billion-Dollar Tax Cut Leaves out a Huge Chunk of Households
September 9, 2021
Shutting low-income families out of the tax cut will further skew Wisconsin’s tax system, which already requires people with low incomes to pay a higher share of their incomes in state and local taxes than people with much higher earnings. The lowest 20% of Wisconsin households by income, in which households earn less than $22,000 […]
Urban Milwaukee: Republicans Discover the Middle Class
February 14, 2019
An analysis of all the tax breaks in Wisconsin from 2011 through 2016 by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found the average tax reduction was $10,015 for the top 1 percent of taxpayers, and $1,806 for the next 4 percent of taxpayers versus $379 for the middle 20 percent of taxpayers and just $175 for the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers.
Wisconsin Budget Project: Wisconsin’s Tax System Requires the Least from Those Who Have the Most
November 21, 2018
Wisconsin residents with the lowest incomes pay about a third more of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest residents, according to new figures from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The poorest 20% of Wisconsin residents—a group with an average income of $14,700—pays 10.1 cents out of every $1 of their income in state and local taxes on average. In comparison, the richest residents of Wisconsin, who have an average income of $1.2 million, pay just 7.7 cents out of every $1 in income in state and local taxes.
Wisconsin Budget Project: Giving Young Immigrants a Pathway to Citizenship Would Boost Wisconsin’s Farm Economy
December 20, 2017
According to a new report from the Wisconsin Budget Project, passing the Dream Act and establishing a pathway to citizenship for immigrant youth would help Wisconsin farms and communities by: Expanding Wisconsin’s economy by up to $600 million a year by improving the access that immigrants have to educational and economic opportunity; Increasing state and […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Dream Act Would Boost Wisconsin Economy and Tax Revenues: Revoking DACA Hurts Both
December 20, 2017
There are 10,000 young immigrants potentially eligible for DACA who call Wisconsin home. They currently contribute a total of $16 million to local and state taxes annually through sales and excise taxes, property taxes, and income tax. Read more here
Wisconsin Budget Project: What the Trump Tax Plan Means for Wisconsin Taxpayers, in Six Charts
October 17, 2017
The tax plan being advanced by President Trump and Republican members of Congress would mostly benefit the extremely rich, despite initial claims by proponents that it would be targeted at members of the middle class...Using data from an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, we have prepared six charts that show how the Trump-GOP tax framework would affect Wisconsin taxpayers:
Wisconsin Budget Project: Missing Out: Recent Tax Cuts Slanted in Favor of those with Highest Incomes
June 27, 2017
Since 2011, Wisconsin state lawmakers have made it a high priority to cut taxes, particularly personal income and property taxes. The tax cuts they have passed have disproportionately gone to Wisconsin residents with the highest incomes. Middle-class residents received less than the wealthy, and residents with low incomes received the smallest tax cut. Read more […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: A Flatter State Income Tax Would Take a Toll on Wisconsin
April 29, 2015
A proposal to change Wisconsin’s tax system could cut taxes for high earners, even though the well-off already pay a smaller share of their income in state taxes than lower-income taxpayers. Various lawmakers are proposing cutting or “reforming” the state’s income tax code, and a special committee staffed by the Legislative Council will be reviewing […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Do All Taxpayers Get the Same Benefit from the Governor’s Income Tax Proposals?
April 29, 2015
In his State of the State address last week, Governor Walker talked about two tax cuts he plans to make using the state’s projected surplus: a $406 million cut in property taxes and an income tax cut. With respect to the smaller portion of that two-part plan the Governor said: “…we will reduce income taxes […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Top 10 Reasons to Increase Tax Credits for Low-income Households
April 29, 2015
Top 10 Reasons to Increase Tax Credits for Low-income Households Read the full report
Wisconsin Budget Project: Tax Shifts Would Cut Taxes for Richest, Raise Taxes on Others
April 29, 2015
Expanding the sales tax to pay for income and property tax cuts would harm taxpayers with low incomes – and give large tax cuts to the highest earners. A recent policy report that recommends such a “tax shift” overlooks those facts. Read the full report
Wisconsin Budget Project: Low-income Taxpayers in Wisconsin Pay Much Higher Rate than the Richest
January 21, 2015
Wisconsin’s state and local tax system is tilted in favor of those with the highest incomes, according to a new report released today. Wisconsin taxpayers with low and middle incomes typically pay much higher rates of state and local taxes compared to taxpayers with the highest incomes. Some Wisconsin policymakers are advocating for changes that […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Recent Tax Cuts Deliver Little to People Who Earn the Least
June 3, 2014
Three major tax cut packages passed by the Wisconsin legislature in the last year have delivered relatively little benefit to the lowest earners, who are struggling to make ends meet. In dollar amounts, the largest tax cuts went to the Wisconsin taxpayers who earned the most. If state lawmakers want to cut taxes for Wisconsin […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: New Report Shows Major Corporations Based in Wisconsin Pay Little in State Income Tax
March 20, 2014
A number of large, profitable corporations in Wisconsin pay little or nothing in state corporate income tax, according to a new report. Loopholes, tax credits, and creating accounting keep the amount these corporations pay in income tax to a minimum. A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens for Tax […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: New Study Finds Large Number of the Major, Profitable Corporations Pay Little in Corporate Taxes
February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 6:16 PM by Jon Peacock This week, on the same day that GOP legislators in Congress were unveiling a plan to sharply reduce federal income taxes for corporations, a DC-based think tank released a comprehensive study showing that many highly profitable Fortune 500 companies pay little or no federal corporate […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Top 5% of Wisconsin Residents Get 18% of Tax Cuts Proposed by the Governor
January 27, 2014
The distribution of the tax cuts proposed by the Governor isn’t our chief concern about how he would use the projected state surplus. We’re primarily concerned that Governor Walker’s plan ignores holes in the current budget, and creates a deeper hole in the next one – boosting the structural deficit in 2013-15 to about $825 […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Governor Walker’s Tax Shift Plan Would Raise Taxes for Most
January 3, 2014
Governor Walker has said he is interested in eliminating the state’s income tax and raising the sales tax to make up for lost revenue, a move that would result in a tax increase for all but the wealthiest taxpayers. To replace the revenue lost by the income tax, the state sales tax rate would […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: “Middle Class Tax Cut” Will Mostly Wind up in the Pockets of the Highest Earners
May 16, 2013
Governor Walker has proposed an income tax cut that would benefit the highest earners the most, and would result in insignificant tax cuts for low-income Wisconsinites. Read the Full Report
Wisconsin Budget Project: Taxation of Capital Gains Income
January 14, 2013
Wisconsin is one of nine states that provide a broad tax break for capital gains. That tax exclusion has become a key budget issue after the state Senate voted on June 17 to eliminate the tax break for such income, in lieu of creating a new oil company tax. The Governor and Assembly recommended smaller […]
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